Lèngyán jīng zuǎnzhù 楞嚴經纂註
Compiled Annotations on the Śūraṃgama-sūtra by 真界 (纂註)
About the work
A ten-fascicle (10卷) compilation-and-annotation (zuǎnzhù 纂註) commentary on the Śūraṃgama-sūtra (KR6j0118) by Yuètáng Zhēnjiè 悅堂真界 真界 (also known as Huànjū Zhēnjiè 幻居真界), late-Míng Línjì monk and Dharma-heir of Yuètíng Míngdé 月亭明得 (月亭明得, 1531 – 1588) of the Qiānsōng 千松 sub-school of Mt. Tài. Resident at Zuìlǐ 檇李 (Jiāxìng) and at the Chuányī ān 傳衣庵 of Jìngshān 徑山 (the great Línjì Chán monastery in Hangzhou prefecture). Preserved as X15 no. 300 in the Xùzàngjīng.
Prefaces
The work is prefaced by Dàfódǐng shǒulèngyán jīng zuǎnzhù tící 大佛頂首楞嚴經纂註題辭 (an “inscriptional preface”): “Jiè Master’s Zuǎnzhù old-edition — I [the preface-writer] saw it ten years ago. Last autumn I met [him] at the Nánhàn 南翰 official residence; what he showed me was the present edition, then. The amendments-and-corrections are 15-or-16 — that is, taking the various-houses’ explanations, shānyí fánrǒng 芟夷煩冗 (cutting away the dense-and-redundant), huìguī jīngyuē 會歸精約 (returning-them-together to the essential-and-concise), and at intervals appending one’s own meaning. He is not only the shèngjīng xiàozǐ 聖經孝子 (filial-son to the holy sūtras) but also the zhū shī zhōngchén 諸師忠臣 (loyal-minister to the various masters). His achievement — how can it not be praiseworthy! Yet, the Lèngyán has the manifest and the secret. The opening of the sūtra says: ‘At that time the Tathāgata spread his seat in repose; for the various assemblies he proclaimed the deep-and-recondite. The Dharma-feast’s pure assembly attained the unprecedented. The kalaviṅka-spirit-sound spread to the ten directions of the world.’ The Tathāgata had a manifestation; the pure assembly had an attainment; the sound-and-voice were universally heard — yet without one character. This is the secret Lèngyán. Qìngxǐ (阿難 Ānanda)‘s earnest petition; the Tathāgata’s marvelous-disputation expounded; this is the manifest Lèngyán. The manifest by means of expounding the secret — then ten fascicles of sūtra-text are entirely [the manifest]” (界師纂註舊本。余十年前曾見之。去秋晤於南翰官舍。所示今本。則改竄巳十五六。蓋取諸家之說。芟夷煩冗。會歸精約。而間附己意。不但作聖經孝子。且為諸師忠臣。其功顧不卲歟。雖然。楞嚴有顯密。經首云。即時如來敷座宴安。為諸會中宣示深奧。法筵清眾得未曾有。迦陵仙音徧十方界。如來有示。清眾有得。音聲普聞。而無一字。此密楞嚴也。慶喜殷勤啟請。如來妙辯演說。此顯楞嚴也。顯以詮密。則十卷經文巳 …).
Abstract
The Zuǎnzhù is a selective-compilation commentary: rather than producing a full new exegesis, Zhēnjiè selects and synthesizes the best passages from the existing Sòng-Yuán-Míng Lèngyán commentarial corpus, edits them for concision and accessibility, and adds his own annotations at intervals. The preface attests that the work circulated in two recensions a decade apart, with the second (transmitted) recension having fifteen-or-sixteen-percent revisions — i.e., a substantively expanded second edition. The genre name zuǎnzhù signals this editorial-synthetic rather than original-exegetical character.
Zhēnjiè’s wider commentarial corpus (the Qǐxìn lùn zuǎnzhù 起信論纂註 (起信論纂註), the Jīngāng zhíjiě 金剛直解 (金剛直解), the Yīnmíng rù zhènglǐ lùn jiě 因明入正理論解 (因明入正理論解), etc.) consistently displays this same zuǎnzhù compilation-and-annotation method, suggesting a deliberate exegetical programme.
The dating bracket is set to 1573 – 1620, the late-Wànlì period to which Zhēnjiè’s productive career belongs. Lifedates unrecorded.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.